Absorbent paper products find many uses in the home. For example absorbent paper products can be delivered on rolls, such as for bath tissue (e.g. toilet paper), and paper towels. Manufacturers often make and sell rolled paper products in packages containing multiple rolls. Such packages are usually sold in a form involving a plastic, sealed overwrap. The plastic sealed wrapping can seal a single roll of absorbent paper products, or it can seal multiple rolls of absorbent paper products.
The process of wrapping and sealing rolls of absorbent paper products often involves changing the direction of product flow of finished rolled absorbent products. For example one or more rolls of absorbent paper products can be wrapped by being enclosed in a tubular wrap of polymer film, which must be sealed at one or both ends of the package. Current sealing equipment is designed such that a wrapped roll of absorbent product (or multiple rolls of absorbent product) in which the wrapped rolls are oriented and conveyed in one direction must be transferred to move in a different direction, such as an orthogonal, direction to have the ends sealed.
The necessary diverting involved in transferring rolled absorbent paper products in a 90° angle conveying operation necessarily results in an “L-shaped” conveying path. The L-shaped conveying path has several disadvantages. First the L-shaped conveying path requires significant floor space. Second, the floor space is taken in two dimensions so to speak, such that an addition to a module at any portion of the conveyor requires the entire conveyor to change in two dimensions. Thirdly, when such an L-shaped configuration is utilized, the change in direction is necessary even for “naked” rolls, that is, rolls that are not being wrapped and sealed prior to being bundled or case packed, as is known in the art. Unwrapped, naked rolls can become unstable when conveyed in a transfer operation in which the direction of conveyance is changed.
Accordingly there is an unmet need for an improved conveying, wrapping, and sealing system for handling rolled absorbent products.